In arid areas of the world water is becoming one of the most precious natural resources. Meeting future water needs in these arid areas may require aggressive conservation measures. Most individuals are aware of some of the steps they can take to conserve water, such as installing low or ultra low flush toilets, installing water saving shower heads, sweeping rather than hosing off the driveway, checking for leaks in the water system and irrigation system, and irrigating the landscape efficiently. However, with the last two steps, many individuals may not be aware of leaks in their water lines or irrigation systems and/or they are not aware of what measures they can take to irrigate their landscapes more efficiently.
Many automatic irrigation controllers have been developed, and known irrigation controllers range from simple devices that control-watering times based upon fixed schedules, to sophisticated devices that vary the watering schedules according to local geography and climatic conditions.
With respect to the simpler types of irrigation controllers, a homeowner typically sets a watering schedule that involves specific run times and days for each of a plurality of stations, and the controller executes the same schedule regardless of the season or weather conditions. From time to time the homeowner may manually adjust the watering schedule, but such adjustments are usually only made a few times during the year, and are based upon the homeowner's perceptions rather than the actual watering needs of the landscape. One change is often made in the late Spring when a portion of the yard becomes brown due to a lack of water. Another change is often made in the late Fall when the homeowner assumes that the vegetation does not require as much watering. These changes to the watering schedule are typically insufficient to achieve efficient watering. Further, the homeowner will likely not change their irrigation practices until they are made aware of how inefficient their watering practices are.
More sophisticated irrigation controllers use evapotranspiration rates for determining the amount of water to be applied to a landscape. Evapotranspiration is the water lost by direct evaporation from the soil and plant and by transpiration from the plant surface. Irrigation controllers that derive all or part of the irrigation schedule from ETo data (ET irrigation controllers) are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,339 issued December 1995, to Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,861 issued March 1992 to Hopkins, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,787 issued June 1991 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,937 issued July 1993 both to Evelyn-Veere, U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,855, issued May 1993, to Marian, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,696,671, issued December 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,870,302, issued February 1999, both to Oliver and U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,061, issued August, 2000 to Addink. However, even with these ET irrigation systems, the consumer will generally modify the irrigation schedule to apply more than or less than the scheduled amounts based on ETo. For example, during the year if any dry spots are observed in the yard, the consumer will likely change the controller setting to increase the amount of water that would be applied and not change it back to the original setting. A modification of the irrigation system to improve distribution uniformity might have corrected the dry spot problem in the landscape without requiring the consumer to change the controller setting. As with the simpler systems, mentioned in the previous paragraph, so also with ET controllers the consumers will likely not change their irrigation practices until they are made aware of how inefficient their watering practices are. Although, the watering practices of consumers, with ET controllers, are generally far more efficient than consumers with simpler systems, the irrigation efficiency of most of their irrigation systems can also be improved.
When watering restrictions are imposed on the use of water by consumers it becomes even more essential to efficiently use the water that is allocated. It may mean the difference between plant survival and plant death. Additionally, when rate structures are imposed on the use of water it would be very beneficial to the user to know, on a timely basis, the quantity of water they are using so they may reduce water usage thereby reducing the use of water priced at the higher rates. This is true with any utility commodity, whether water, electricity or gas, to which a rate structure is applied by the service provider.
Flow meters are used with some irrigation systems and are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,131 issued June 1980, to Barash, U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,163 issued January 1993, to Al-Hamlan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,011 issued October 1999, to Price and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,861, 5,229,937 and 6,102,061 mentioned above. Irrigation systems discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,209,131, 5,176,163, 5,229,937, and 6,102,061 use the flow meter primarily to set limits to the quantity of water that will be applied by the irrigation system. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,097,861 and 5,971,011 the flow meters are primarily used for leak detection. As indicated above, flow meters are primarily used for specific purposes, such as valve control and leak detection, with very little feedback to the water user on how they may improve the efficiency of their irrigation system based on water flow measurements.
What is required is a process by which the consumer is made aware of the quantity of water that is applied to their landscapes and the quantity of water that should be applied to their landscapes based on the plants water requirements. This knowledge, along with recommendations from irrigation specialists should assist the consumer toward achieving irrigation of the landscape based on the plant's water requirements. Furthermore, it would be beneficial if the same process could be used to detect anomalies with the irrigation systems and with other water using devices at the irrigation site, including water using devices in the home. Additionally, it would be beneficial to the consumer if the process could be used to improve the efficiency in the use of other utility commodities, such as, electricity and gas used at the consumer's site.
The present invention will meet the above listed needs and additionally will provide for the transmission of the utility commodity usage data to the entity that provides the utility commodity so the entity can use the data for billing purposes.